Complicated day for RER B users. A first incident was reported on Monday morning, around 8:30 am, on the line's twitter account, which announced a power failure at Mitry station.
Hopes of seeing traffic re-established quickly vanished with the announcement of a second power failure, this time at Courneuve station, shortly before nine o'clock.
While the RER B twitter account announced the end of this second incident at 11:55 am, a signaling failure was reported this time at 12:30 pm.
Read alsoRER B: Alstom and RATP have reached an agreement
Ultimately, the three incidents would have the same origin.
SNCF, which operates the northern part of the line, confirmed to
Figaro
"
an incident on a site to modernize the RER B
".
A partner company would indeed have "
crushed the signaling and telecommunications cables in the Aubervilliers area
".
Ironically, this project aims "
to cut the electrical catenary network into separate sections to limit incidents to a smaller area and avoid the effects of propagation over the entire line
".
No train between Aulnay-Sous-Bois and Gare du Nord until 8 p.m., traffic disrupted on the rest of the line
Since nine hours, traffic has therefore been completely interrupted between Gare du Nord and Aulnay-sous-Bois. The resumption, which was initially scheduled for 10:30 a.m., then at 2 p.m., should ultimately not take place before 8 p.m. confirmed SNCF at
Le Figaro
. Passengers will have to be patient because traffic is also slowed down on the rest of the line. Alternative routes are offered by the official RER B block.
The new RER B offer, in place since September 13 with an increase in the number of trains to the south of the line and an extension of the amplitude of rush hours does not seem to improve the user experience.
However, this is what the RATP and SNCF, which operate the line jointly, had hoped for.
The new offer was indeed "to
limit the consequences of the hazards that can occur on the line, in particular by better balancing the number of passengers between trains at the busiest times
" in the words of the RER B blog.
Read also The contract for RER B trains on a siding
Since the beginning of September, 45% of working days have seen at least one problem on the line during peak hours (7 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. and 5 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.), according to a user site that lists the incidents. 57% of them were caused by line malfunctions (signaling failure, electricity failure, etc.) and 43% were caused by travelers (discomfort, people on the tracks, forgotten luggage, etc.).